Like the existing credit, the proposed one would apply to the purchase of a new or existing home used as a principal residence. But the new credit would have no income limitation and would be available to anyone, not just so-called first-time home buyers (defined as someone who has not owned a primary residence in the past three years.)

In announcing the bill, Isakson said he was “drawing on more than three decades of experience in the real estate industry.”

The bill, S1230, would replace the existing tax credit with the new one. It also would increase the estimated cost of the credit to $34.2 billion from $17 billion, Isakson says.

The bill has attracted nine co-sponsors including Democrat Chris Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, and Joseph Lieberman, the Connecticut Independent. To read and track the bill, see here.

Isakson told me the existing credit is doing nothing to stimulate sales of move-up homes. He says he hopes to fill that “hole in the market” by removing the income limit and first-time home buyer requirement.

Here’s a look at how the credit proposed in S1230 would differ from the existing first-time home buyer credit: